Lady Hochoy School receives $.5M upgrade

To this end, the organisation has invested more than half a million dollars in upgrades to the Lady Hochoy School in Gasparillo.

The upgrades to the school included construction and covering of walkways, widening of corridors, installation of wheelchair ramps, construction of a storage room, construction of a permanent guard booth, refurbishment of the existing student toilets, construction of a new bathroom block and installation and upgrades of safety equipment in the event of a disaster. Through the company’s Digicel Play service, the Foundation has been able to supply the school with fibre broadband services at no cost to the school - a service which has been offered to several of the Foundation’s special needs partners.

The Foundation’s “Centres of Excellence” programme was launched at the school on Wednesday. The aim of the programme is to enhance the physical environment of special needs schools, ensuring that the space is comfortable and meets international standards, and the intellectual space is nourished through various therapeutic and educational sustainable activities.

In a media release, the Foundation said having invested in several programmes, including the Therapy Based Education Programme led by occupational, behavioural and speech and language therapists; the aquaponics programme, which serves as a means of therapy and new income stream for the school, and most recently the Preparing You disaster preparedness programme, where teachers and students are educated on how to respond to disaster; the last piece of the puzzle was the physical upgrade of the school’s facilities.

Evelyn Ohonba, senior special education teacher, thanked the Foundation saying many corporate bodies have offered support but have never followed through. She said the Foundation has always kept its promises of assistance and for that the school was very grateful.

The Foundation said it will now turn its attention to the Rio Claro Learning and Development Centre for Special Children.